Red

Many of the fairy tales we hear are the sanitized, Disney-fied versions of much more gruesome narratives from Eastern European folklore. The story of Little Red Riding Hood being intercepted by a big bad wolf while bringing cookies to her grandmother’s house is well known. But the original ending is not as “happily ever after” as you recall. The Charleston City Ballet has taken the beloved fairy tale plot back to its morbid origins in its latest production Red. The ballet’s got all the recognizable elements of the original tale: a bright red cape, a grandmother, and a wolf. But that’s where the similarities end. This production is not for kids, and it is much more complex than just a cautionary tale about talking to strangers. For starters, there’s no little girl in this one. Instead it’s a newly engaged couple (the fiancée received the cape as a present) who find a beast by the moonlight. “The Red Riding Hood tale is being used as a vehicle,” says Michael Wise, artistic director of Charleston City Ballet. “The focus of the story is on how this young couple deal with the choices that they’ve made and the situation and how you see people change throughout the process.” The ballet stars Caroline Douglas Herlong and Toleu Mukanov, who is new to the company, with music by Benjamin Frankel and choreography by Michael and Olga Wise.